1897-1944
Gangster; Head of "Murder, Inc."

Gangster.

Louis Lepke had the dubious distinction of being executed as the indirect result of founding and building a very successful, though illegal, business. A famous gangster of the 1930s and 1940s, he is perhaps best known by the name of his business, Murder, Incorporated.

Criminal Education.

Louis Lepke, as he was popularly known, was born Louis Bookhouse in Manhattan, New York. His only known occupation was as a criminal. He graduated from simple pushcart robberies at the age of sixteen to organizing protection rackets at the age of seventeen. Too short at five feet seven and one-half inches to intimidate successfully those he sought to "protect," he joined forces with Jacob Shapiro, a huge man whom he met on the day that they both attempted to rob the same pushcart. They joined the Lower East Side gang and worked...